The invention relates to a process for coloring and/or conditioning hair, especially on the human head, and to compositions that are useful in this process. It also concerns certain novel compounds that may be employed in such process and compositions and a process for preparing these compounds.
Oxidative hair coloring (tinting) is known to result frequently in deterioration of hair fiber combability and feel. These changes in hair properties are readily perceptible by the consumer who is likely to interpret them in terms of hair "damage". The precise reason for these undesirable changes is unclear. While the oxidation of the hair surface (by peroxide present in the color formulation) may play a part, it appears that the more likely culprit is the deposition of dye moieties on such surface. There is a progressive deterioration in combability and feel of the hair with the increased intensity of dye-outs (i.e. the darker shades are more deleterious in this respect than the lighter ones although the peroxide concentration in all shades is identical).
Currently, the only way to deal with this problem is to mask the effect by application of conditioning agents. The use of conventional conditioners either during or after the hair coloring process leaves the hair easy to comb and with a pleasant feel, but both of these conditioning attributes disappear after a single shampoo. Cationic polymer conditioning products are somewhat more durable in this respect but even they lose their effectiveness in several shampoos.